Vehicles currently are equipped with passenger restraining devices such as belts which extend across the lap and torso of an occupant. In many instances the material from which the strap is made is sufficiently rough to irritate the occupant's skin or adversely affect his or her clothing. In addition, when a vehicle equipped with such straps is involved in a collision, the occupant using such strap may be injured by the edges of the straps, or by the force with which the strap acts on the occupant to restrain his or her movement due to sudden deceleration of the vehicle, or both.
Strap covers of the general class to which the invention relates have been proposed heretofore but have not been particularly successful for a variety of reasons, among which are the tendency of the covers to slide along the strap that it covers, the ease with which such covers may be separated from their straps by acts of mischief or theft, and the resistance of such covers to conform to the contours of a user's body.
A strap cover constructed in accordance with the invention overcomes the objections referred to above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A strap cover constructed in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention comprises an elongate body formed of resilient, deformable, rubbery material within which is a cavity for the accommodation of a length of strap forming a vehicle lap or torso restraining belt. One side of the cover has a longitudially extending ridge which is composed of a plurality of interlocking dovetail segments that may be separated to permit the strap to be accommodated in the cavity. The deformability of the material from which the cover is made, together with the separable dovetail segments, enables the cover to conform closely and easily to the contours of a person's body, in a comfortable manner, but without impairing in any way the cushioning capability of the cover.